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Pre-Service Teacher

questioning Choosing a Lab

Below are brief descriptions of each of the DOE laboratories. To visit a laboratory homepage, click on the laboratory's name below. In addition to reading information on each laboratory that interests you, you are encouraged to take a look at some of the student abstracts from the years 2000 through 2008 and descriptions of research performed by the labs listed below.

Each lab is funded from the Office of Science for a different number of PST students.  The number of PST students for the past summer is listed for most labs.
Pre-Service Teacher internships are available at the following DOE laboratories:

Argonne National Laboratory

ANL placed 6 PST students in summer 2008.

Argonne National Laboratory performs research that falls into four broad categories:
(1) Basic science includes experimental and theoretical work in materials science, physics, chemistry, biology, high-energy physics, mathematics, and computer science. (2) Scientific facilities designs, builds, and operates sophisticated research facilities that would be too expensive for a single company or university to build and operate. These include the Intense Pulsed Neutron Source, the Argonne Tandem Linear Accelerator System and the Advanced Photon Source. (3) Energy resources programs help ensure a reliable supply of efficient and clean energy for the future and include developing advanced batteries and fuel cells, as well as advanced electrical power generation systems. (4) Environmental management includes alternative energy systems; environmental risk and economic impact assessments; hazardous waste site analysis and remediation planning; electrometallurgical treatment to prepare spent nuclear fuel for disposal; and new technologies for decontaminating and decommissioning aging nuclear reactors.

Click here to read about research projects open to students at ANL.

Argonne National Laboratory is surrounded by forest preserve and located about 25 miles southwest of Chicago's Loop.

Brookhaven National Laboratory

BNL placed 5 PST sudents in summer 2008.

The home of five Nobel Prize-winning discoveries, Brookhaven is a major multidisciplinary laboratory that carries out basic and applied world-class research in physical, biomedical and environmental sciences, as well as energy technologies. Brookhaven sponsors programs for students and faculty in physics, biology, chemistry, medical science, environmental science, and many other areas. Educational placements range from working with physicists to probe the nature of matter at Brookhaven's newest accelerator, the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider, to investigating the structure of proteins with biologists at the National Synchrotron Light Source.

Brookhaven National Laboratory is located on Long Island, NY.

Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory

FNAL placed 3 PST students in summer 2008.

Scientists at Fermilab conduct basic research in high-energy physics, the science of matter, space, and time. The Lab is home to the world's highest-energy particle accelerator, which about 2,500 scientists use to study the structure of matter and the forces that govern our universe. Experiments at Fermilab can involve hundreds of scientists from all over the world who work for years designing and constructing large detectors and then taking and analyzing data. Undergraduates have an opportunity to work on projects that support these particle physics experiments in areas such as engineering, applied physics and computing. In addition, the Fermilab site offers opportunities for environmental studies particularly in the hundreds of acres of restored tall grass prairie.

Located in Batavia, Illinois, Fermilab is 30 miles west of Chicago's loop. While at Fermilab you can enjoy a range of outdoor activities (sorry no mountains or oceans) or take advantage of the cultural resources of a large metropolitan area. Go Cubs!

Idaho National Laboratory

INL placed 3 PST students in summer 2008.

The Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is a multi-purpose national laboratory delivering specialized science and engineering solutions for the Department of Energy (DOE). INL offers research opportunities in Environmental Stewardship, Subsurface Science, Generation IV Nuclear Energy Systems, Advanced Computing and Collaboration, Advanced Waste Management Solutions, Biotechnology, and engineering. INL is the lead DOE laboratory in Environmental Management and in Environmental Stewardship. In partnership with Argonne National Laboratory, INL is the DOE lead nuclear energy laboratory. It is home to one of the largest concentrations of technical professionals in the northern Rocky Mountain region.

Located in southeastern Idaho, the INL covers 889 square miles of the Snake River Plain between Idaho Falls and Arco, Idaho. Offices and laboratories are also in the city of Idaho Falls, Idaho (population 50,000), located about two hours from Grand Teton National Park, Yellowstone National Park and other areas offering prime recreational opportunities.

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

LBNL placed 4 PST students in summer 2008.

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's (LBNL) research and development includes new energy technologies and environmental solutions with a focus on energy efficiency, electric reliability, carbon management and global climate change, and fusion. Frontier research experiences exist in nanoscience, genomics and cancer research, advanced computing, and observing matter and energy at the most fundamental level in the universe. Ernest Orlando Lawrence founded Berkeley Lab in 1931. Lawrence invented the cyclotron, which led to a Golden Age of particle physics, the foundation of modern nuclear science, and revolutionary discoveries about the nature of the universe. Berkeley Lab's Advanced Light Source is its premier national user facility, located centrally on the lab site overlooking the San Francisco Bay.

NOTE: Berkeley Lab will be partnering with the University of California “Cal Teach” program and the California State University "STAR" program for its summer 2009 PST program. Applicants for the 2009 PST program at LBNL must be participants in the Cal Teach or STAR programs.  Those in the STAR program must also complete an application by Monday 9 Feb 09 at the following link: http://www.cesame.calpoly.edu/programs-star.html

National Renewable Energy Laboratory

NREL is the nation's leading laboratory for renewable energy research. NREL is developing new energy technologies to benefit both the environment and the economy. NREL conducts research in about 50 areas of scientific investigation, including photovoltaics, wind turbine and blade research, energy, biomass-derived fuels and chemicals, energy-efficient buildings, advanced vehicles, industrial processes, solar thermal systems, hydrogen technologies fuel cells, superconductivity, geothermal, distributed energy resources, measurement and testing of renewable energy systems, hybrid systems, basic energy research and waste-to-energy technologies. Research opportunities for undergraduate students have included appointments in all research areas at NREL.

NREL's 300-acre main campus is at the foot of South Table Mountain in Golden, Colo. The National Wind Technology Center is located "between Golden and Boulder, Colorado on Highway 93." Golden is a western suburb of Denver which has a unique feel of a small town in a highly tech metro area. NREL is located at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, which offers a wide variety of outdoor activities "short distance" of the laboratory.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory

ORNL placed 5 PST students in summer 2008.

The largest of DOE's national laboratories, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) pioneers the development of new energy sources, technologies, and materials and the advancement of knowledge in the biological, chemical, computational, engineering, environmental, physical, and social sciences. Research opportunities for undergraduate students include projects in:

  • materials science and engineering
  • neutron science
  • life sciences
  • computer and computational science
  • environmental sciences
  • chemical sciences and chemical engineering technology
  • fusion science and technology
  • nuclear physics
  • instrumentation and measurement science and technology
  • social sciences

Click here to find out more about research at ORNL.

ORNL is located in East Tennessee about 7 miles from the center of Oak Ridge (population 27,000) and about 25 miles from Knoxville (metro area population of 650,000). The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is nearby along with various state parks and Tennessee Valley Authority lakes affording numerous recreational opportunities.

Click here to find out more about DOE's programs for students at ORNL.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

PNNL placed 5 PST students in summer 2008.

PNNL is a world leader in environmental science research. The Laboratory has built an international reputation in environmental sciences through fundamental studies in chemistry, biology, computer sciences, and a wide range of other fields. This expertise has been developed through an emphasis on understanding complex systems, from molecular to global scales. Research opportunities at the Laboratory for students include appointments in atmospheric science and global change, computational sciences, experimental chemistry, marine sciences, molecular biology, environmental studies, remediation, environmental microbiology, wildlife and fisheries biology, materials research, process science and engineering, economics and political science.

Located at the confluence of the Columbia, Snake and Yakima rivers in southeastern Washington, the communities of Richland, Kennewick and Pasco (populations ~110,000) offer a multitude of recreational, cultural and historical activities for you to enjoy. Our semiarid environment has over 300 days of sunshine a year and provides many opportunities to play in the great outdoors. Hiking, biking, fishing, golfing, and boating are all popular activities around the Tri-Cities area. Riverfront parks offer miles of jogging, biking, and roller blading trails. A two-hour drive to the Cascade Mountains to the west or the Blue Mountains to the east provides snow skiing in the winter and spring and hiking and camping during the summer. To learn more about activities in and around the Tri-Cities, click here.